Inquest records open verdict after woman was discovered lying next to her bed

Susan McArthur was found in her Willow Street home on Friday, February 14, after not being seen for seven days

A woman's body was discovered in such a decomposed state that her cause of death could not be determined.

Susan McArthur, 56, was found lying next to the bed in her Willow Street home on Friday, February 14, after not being seen for seven days.

An inquest at Reading Civic Centre on Tuesday last week heard it was not possible for a full autopsy and toxicology to be carried out on the body as the radiators in the flat had been left on a high heat, speeding up decomposition.

Mrs McArthur, a former commercial mortgage advisor, was found by her supporting housing officer, Elizabeth Muigai, from homeless charity Launchpad.

In a statement read to the court, Ms Muigai said she used her own key to enter the flat after Mrs McArthur failed to respond to texts and a letter after missing an art class on Thursday, February 6.

Mrs McArthur moved into Launchpad’s Centenary House in July last year, after battling alcohol and drug problems as well as mental health problems for a number of years, the inquest heard.

Mrs McArthur was visited at home by community psychiatric nurse Malcolm Hailes on February 7.

He reported Mrs McArthur did not seem depressed and had no thoughts of self harm, but said she was suffering with a wheezy chest.

Berkshire coroner Peter Bedford told Mrs McArthur’s mother Peggy Smith and brother Trevor Smith it was not clear how long she had been dead when she was found.

Mr Smith said he thought had spoken to his sister on Saturday, February 8. Mr Bedford said the post mortem examination had concluded the cause of death as unascertained. Apologising for the information being so inconclusive, he said the evidence gave him no choice but to record an open verdict.